[Boycott - Zionist Lobby] London Protest Demands CNN Reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
inminds 9 December 2018 London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
On 7th December 2018, Inminds human rights group held a vigil outside the UK headquarters of CNN in London to demand CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill. Marc Lamont Hill, an award winning journalist and Professor of Media at Temple University in the United States, was fired by CNN last week, from his role as a political commentator after he gave a passionate speech on Palestinian rights at the United Nations on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and the 70th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. In his speech Hill criticized Israel's state violence and its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and supported the Palestinian call for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions on Israel.
In response to his speech, Hill was the target of an orchestrated political lynching by Israel lobby groups who smeared him as an anti-Semite and grotesquely twisted his call for freedom for Palestine 'from the river to the sea' to mean genocide against Jews. The Israel lobby groups pressured CNN to fire him.
Instead of standing by Hill and upholding his right to freedom of speech, CNN shamefully capitulated to the Israel lobby and fired Hill the very next day.
With the video of Hill's faultless 21 minute speech published by the United Nations for all to see, CNN could not give any justification in firing Hill so no official reason was given.
The Israel lobby having succeeded at pressuring CNN to fire Hill, are now demanding he be fired from his teaching position. They are putting pressure on Temple University where Hill is Professor of Media.
Inminds chair Abbas Ali said "We are here to demand CNN grow a spine and stand up to the Israel lobby; to respect freedom of speech especially when its Palestinian rights; to apologise to Prof Marc Lamont Hill and reinstate him immediately."
Inminds chair Abbas Ali added "Its interesting that whilst CNN could provide no justification for firing Hill, Israel shills like Syracuse University associate professor Miriam Elman were quick to provide the missing justification by rolling out the discredited IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which conflates any criticism of Israel to anti-Semitism, and branded Hill an anti-Semite. Her perverse reasoning was that to grant freedom to Palestinians from the river to the sea would mean Jews in Israel would become a minority so in effect its a call for the elimination of Israel and hence anti-Semitic according to IHRA. The IHRA definition is now being used to silence calls for freedom for Palestinians! This directly impacts Palestinian rights activists everywhere including the UK. At the last count the IHRA definition has been pushed through and adopted by 150 councils in the UK, along with all the major political parties, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the judiciary. As pro-justice activists we must fight this! Indeed at our vigil one Zionist did complain to the police, however, the police were sensible and sent him away."
In Hill's defence, Two hundred professors along with 50 student organisations and over 600 students have signed an open letter to CNN and Temple University condemning the firing of Marc Lamont Hill by CNN, and demanding Temple University stand by him.
The letter reads:
“CNN and Temple University should have celebrated Hill’s call for justice and equality, but instead used it as an opportunity to silence and intimidate those who criticise the state of Israel. The racist nature of this incident should not be overlooked nor can it be excused. We are not alone in our deep disappointment in CNN for firing Marc Lamont Hill. It is for these reasons, that we, as supporters of justice and liberation for all, condemn CNN’s firing of Marc Lamont Hill. We believe in fairness and anti-racism and thus cannot stand idly by while CNN enacts blatant anti-Blackness and anti-Palestinian violence. We also urge Temple University to avoid repeating CNN’s mistake and to stand by Marc Lamont Hill’s right to speak for justice in Palestine.”
The vigil outside Turner House in Soho was very well received with support shown by both the public and employees of Turner Broadcasting (CNN's parent company).
UN Speech - Dr Marc Lamont Hill
[Video: Jump to 1h35m30sec for Marc Lamont Hill's speech]
Excerpt from Dr Marc Lamont Hill's beautiful speech given at the United Nations on 28th November 2018, the eve of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and the 70th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights:
"Solidarity from the international community demands that we embrace boycotts, divestment, and sanctions as a critical means by which to hold Israel accountable for its treatment of Palestinian people. This movement, which emerges out of the overwhelming majority of Palestinian civil society offers a nonviolent means by which to demand a return to the pre ’67 borders, full rights for Palestinian citizens, and the right of return as dictated by international law.
Solidarity demands that we no longer allow politicians or political parties to remain silent on the question of Palestine. We can no longer in particular allow the political left to remain radical or even progressive on every issue from the environment to war to the economy. To remain progressive on every issue except for Palestine. Contrary to Western mythology, Black resistance to American apartheid did not come purely through Gandhi and nonviolence. Rather, slave revolts and self-defense and tactics otherwise divergent from Dr. King or Mahatma Gandhi were equally important to preserving safety and attaining freedom. We must allow—if we are to operate in true solidarity with Palestinian people, we must allow the Palestinian people the same range of opportunity and political possibility. If we are standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people, we must recognize the right of an occupied people to defend itself. We must prioritize peace. But we must not romanticize or fetishize it. We must advocate and promote nonviolence at every opportunity, but we cannot endorse a narrow politics of respectability that shames Palestinians for resisting, for refusing to do nothing in the fact of state violence and ethnic cleansing..
So as we stand here on the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the tragic commemoration of the Nakba, we have an opportunity to not just offer solidarity in words but to commit to political action, grassroots action, local action, and international action that will give us what justice requires. And that is a free Palestine from the river to the sea."
For full transcript see:
http://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/38202
VIDEO: London Protest Demands CNN Reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
London protest demands CNN respect free speech on Palestine and reinstate Dr Marc Lamont Hill #IStandWithMLH
Placard Designs
"CNN - Free Speech?" placard design for Marc Lamont Hill protest #IStandWithMLH
"CNN - Enemy of Free Speech" placard design for Marc Lamont Hill protest #IStandWithMLH
Source: www.inminds.com
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